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Jercash paused for a deep breath as he thought about his next words. He’d largely been ignoring the magnificent snowscape that he and Gohvis were both standing in, but now he took a moment to appreciate it. These mountains. This biting wind. Cold and lifeless and terrible--but beautiful, nonetheless.

One of the perks of being so old. Being able to stand in brutal places like this, unbothered by the elements--and therefore, able to instead admire the natural wonder of the world that much more.

“Where did you bring me?” he decided to ask.

“The Ridoas.”

Jercash had to stop and blink at that. The Ridoas were the most famous mountains in the world, due entirely to them being the home of the highest peak in the world, Mt. Vinayoaka.

They were also in Luugh, on the other side of the Hardwick Sea, over a thousand miles north of Kavia and Hoss.

“...Bit far to take me, don’t you think?”

“We were being pursued. And you’ve been out for days, by the way.”

Oh.

Oh no.

He groaned. “Still. If it was mountains to get lost in that you wanted, the Waress were right there next to us.”

“I sent decoys there, too. Some of which are still being chased, even now.”

Huh. Well, that was another thing that Jercash had already known about the Monster. His mastery over illusions. Hell, in all likelihood, the Gohvis in front of him probably wasn’t the real one.

“What about my men? Do you know how many survived? Or where they are?”

“Yes, but now that you’ve brought that up, I am reminded of something that I must ask you, first.”

“Shoot.”

“What happened to Koh?”

“Hmm?” Jercash needed a second to think about that. “The dog?”

“Yes. I lent him and Germal to you when you visited my library, but I did not sense them among your forces during the battle.”

“Uh...”

Huh.

That was a good question. What had happened to them? He was having trouble recalling.

In fact... when was the last time he’d seen them? Even that was hard to remember.

He’d gone through all that trouble to get them under his command, so he would’ve noticed if they’d just upped and disappeared.

Gohvis was right. They definitely hadn’t been involved in that last battle. Hell, had they been there for any of the battles?